Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin Love piling up historic NBA numbers

Kevin Love, left, wrestles for a loose ball with Golden State's Andrew Bogut in a Nov. 6 game at Target Center. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

After breaking his hand twice and missing 64 games last season, Kevin Love has come back with a vengeance.

The Timberwolves power forward registered six assists, eight rebounds and 33 points to pace a 124-95 pasting of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night and became the first player in NBA history with 240 points, 125 rebounds and 45 assists over his team's first nine games.

Love's play has elicited comparisons to that of Moses Malone and a few other former stars.

"To be honest, I try not to pay attention to all that," Love said after practice Thursday. "It's definitely flattering to hear those names -- guys I grew up either watching or studying tape of, or just trying to emulate in my back yard. But more than anything, I'm just excited about winning."

Love arrived in Minnesota this fall with a renewed focus and instructions from coach Rick Adelman to become a major facilitator. After averaging two assists a game through four seasons, Love has more than doubled his average during Minnesota's 6-3 start.

His outlet passes to fleet-footed Corey Brewer and others have drawn notice around the NBA.

"Kevin Love is one of the best," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "You watch tape after tape after tape, and I haven't seen one time where Kevin's just a little off with the pass. Every time it seems like it's on time or on target, right in stride for the guy."

The 6-foot-10 Love learned to cock his arm and fire the ball when he was little.

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"I used to shoot like that because I played with my brother -- three grades up -- when I first started organized basketball," he explained. "I couldn't quite get the ball to 10 feet, so I had to shoot like that. I shot at a very high rate and made a lot of shots, and that's kind of how that accuracy developed."

Love's parents also would not allow him to play football, so he worked off any frustrations on the basketball court.

"That was my way of kind of being quarterback," he said.

"And I always loved making that pass. I've put in a lot of work and a lot of hours on it."

Brewer, who returned to the Wolves over the summer after starting his career in Minnesota, has become the No. 1 target.

"With Corey, it's just knowing when to pick and choose our spots," Love said. "He's a guy that's always running out there. He's made for the outlet pass. I love having him on the team; he's a guy that helps me look good."

According to Adelman, Love has been making those kinds of passes since his high school days. But, he added, "Corey's the one who makes it go. He just streaks. He's pretty amazing; he never seems to get tired."

The offseason additions of Brewer and Kevin Martin -- Martin returned to practice Thursday after missing Wednesday's game because of illness -- in conjunction with the return to health of Love and Ricky Rubio has made a big difference in this season's Wolves.

Rubio, who missed 24 games because of injury last season, notched a career-high 16 assists to go along with 16 points against the Cavs. It was Minnesota's third win in four games.

"We're playing good basketball," Love said. "We don't want that to stop."

"Well, nine games into the season," Adelman said. "We're playing well, but we've got to keep working at it."

After missing the playoffs the past nine seasons, the Wolves are playing well enough to make other teams take notice.

"We hope they don't," Love said. "We would like to keep surprising as many people as we can. We know what we're capable of. We know that we can also get better."